


Word of Subjugation

by tsutsuji



Category: Slayers - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Drama, Erotica, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-06-21
Updated: 2010-06-21
Packaged: 2017-10-10 05:29:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/96098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsutsuji/pseuds/tsutsuji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Xelloss' casual seduction begins to drive Zelgadis to distraction, he finds a spell that might help him turn the tables - if it works.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Seduction

**Author's Note:**

> **Word of Subjugation **

**Word of Subjugation **

By Tsutsuji

chapter 1 of ?

Date written: September 4, 2006

Fandom: Slayers

Rating: mature. Warning: explicit male/male sex; dom/sub, implied non-consensual sex.

Pairings: Zelgadis x Xelloss

In progress.

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to the characters of Xelloss and Zelgadis, who were created to Hajime Kanzaka. Some of the ideas in this story belong to Rumiko Takahashi, the creator of Inuyasha. I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Summary: After Xelloss' casual seduction begins to drive Zelgadis to distraction, he finds a spell that might help him turn the tables - if it works.

_Yes, I've started yet another ongoing story without finishing any of the ones I've got in progress. Sorry about that. I'm not giving up on the others, I just needed to take a break and write something without so darn much Plot._

_This story drags a little bit of Inuyasha's world into the Slayers universe, but I wouldn't call it a crossover. I just had to borrow/steal this lovely little plot device. In fact it's so perfect and adaptable to so many pairings, I'm surprised more writers haven't made use of it. Call me woefully unoriginal if you like, but heck, I know a good thing when I see it!_

_I've had two ideas for seme-Zelgadis/uke-Xelloss stories hanging over me, one concensual and one not so much. This is not the not-so-consensual one. _

**Part One: Seduction**

Zelgadis didn't really think the spell would work, but he figured he had little left to lose by trying it. He'd already lost his dignity, his virginity, and a large part of his sanity to Xelloss. Only the deceptively human-looking Mazoku and self-proclaimed Trickster Priest could have ruined his life more completely than it already was, although he'd done it in the last way Zelgadis would have expected. He was desperate enough to try anything - even a spell that came from a stupid, romantic, age-old fairy tale that couldn't possibly be true.

It began several long months after Zelgadis had left Lina and the others to continue his quest for a way to turn his body back from rock to human. Xelloss had found him sitting alone at a seedy tavern and had greeted him like an old friend. Discouraged, lonely, and surrounded by the bottles of wine that he'd already emptied, Zelgadis had actually been glad to see a familiar face. He even allowed Xelloss to buy him a few more drinks.

He should have known better, as he told himself many times after that night. But then, he'd only known that Xelloss was a liar, a schemer, and one of the most dangerously powerful demons who ever lived. What he didn't know was that a Mazoku could be so damn seductive.

He'd nearly given up wondering why Xelloss had lured him into bed, but he was still amazed that the demon had awakened such soul-wrenching pleasure in his body. Zelgadis hadn't even known that his rocky, chimera body could feel the sensations and pleasures Xelloss had been able to make him feel, or that he could do the things Xelloss convinced him to do. He didn't know an orgasm could build until it ripped through him like a Flare Arrow, or that his spine could melt at the touch of another man's hands and lips. He never imagined that he could feel such marvelous satiety, and then become aroused to urgent hardness again so soon. Through the long night and into the morning, each new thing that Xelloss did with him left him with an aching desire for more.

When he awoke late the next day he was lying alone and naked in a tangle of ripped sheets. Xelloss sat in the chair near the window, fully dressed and smiling blandly at him.

"Well, well, that was certainly easier than I expected," Xelloss said. He sat back and pressed his fingertips together as if he was discussing some abstract, philosophical question. "A pleasant enough diversion all the same, in spite of your surprising lack of resistance, Zelgadis-san. You must have been even more lonely than I realized to have given in to me so easily! But then, I suppose that's to be expected for a chimera who's part rock golem and part blow demon, isn't it?" he said pleasantly. "And you performed very well, in spite of your obvious lack of experience."

Zelgadis frowned; the words were so cool they burned like ice, compared to the fires Xelloss had stoked in him last night. He'd never spent so many hours in constant contact with another person, but now he felt empty and exposed alone in the bed like this, and vulnerable.

Xelloss barely glanced at him as he stood and stretched, then turned away to pick up his staff. Zelgadis pulled the torn sheets over himself and sat up, flushed with both humiliation and a new wave of arousal. After what Xelloss had done to him during the night, just watching him move was enough to stir his desire again, but the casual words set off a warning in his mind.

"Why did you do this?" he asked suspiciously. "Why did you come to me like this, Xelloss?"

Xelloss appeared surprised by the question, and paused to think about it for a minute. "Why? Hmm, I don't know, really. Only because I had nothing better to do at the moment, and because I could, I suppose!" He shrugged and turned away again, taking a step toward the door.

"You're leaving?" Zelgadis realized. He lurched to the edge of the bed, and barely quelled the urge to reach out and grab Xelloss to keep him there. "Where are you going?" he demanded, horrified at the desperation in his own voice.

Xelloss looked back over his shoulder with a grin. "Back to work, of course! I was just killing time with you while I waited for something to happen somewhere else. Now I do have something better to do," he said, and then he vanished.

More than a month later, just when Zelgadis had managed to clear his head of the memory of that night, Xelloss appeared in his room in the middle of the night. This time Zelgadis did resist, at least at first, but Xelloss' combination of force and seduction quickly overwhelmed him. Before the night was over he'd bit his own lip through to keep himself from calling out Xelloss' name or pleading with him to prolong the pleasure. Xelloss was already gone when he woke up the next morning.

Every time after that, Zelgadis had told himself he would not give the Mazoku the satisfaction of either his desire or his resistance when he appeared again, but every time, Xelloss managed to acquire both from him in increasingly large doses. He tried to remain passive and disinterested, but the trickster priest had quickly found ways to arouse his stone body that Zelgadis himself didn't know.

If he began by resisting instead, Xelloss was perfectly pleased to let him struggle uselessly for awhile before simply holding him down and taking him anyway. Afterward, though, he would trap Zelgadis and tease him back to arousal, in spite of himself and in spite of any pain Xelloss had caused him earlier, and then take him again, this time with Zelgadis' shamefully helpless compliance.

In the days that often ran into weeks in between Xelloss' visits, Zelgadis fought to forget and to return his mind to his own concerns, but his body and mind betrayed him with constant memories of Xelloss' erotic manipulation. He became half-hearted about his quest to restore his body to human form, and instead he began to look for a way to break Xelloss' hold over him.

He discovered that there were a lot more spells to cause lust and infatuation than there were spells to counteract them. No magic that he knew of would both keep Xelloss away and stifle his own erotic urges and loneliness. He might have been able to use a curse-breaking spell if Xelloss had actually used magic on him, but he knew that wasn't the case. He was simply and undeniably seduced.

He could see no reason for it, unless Xelloss was merely amusing himself by trying to drive him mad. If that was the case, Zelgadis thought, he'd nearly succeeded already. He would have to be mad to try to use a spell from the pages of a romantic fairy tale. It never would have occurred to him to try this particular spell, but he came across the old, familiar story in a bundle of books he'd bid on and won in the auction of a sorcerer's estate. The rest of the books turned out to be useless, but desperate for distraction one night when he found himself alone in yet another decrepit inn, Zelgadis picked up the tale of the Pearl and read it again.

"The Quest of the Shattered Pearl" told the story of a magical jewel that could grant any wish. The story was so old that no one even knew what land it had come from, but Zelgadis had heard that some scholars thought it contained a kernel of truth, even though most others said it was romantic nonsense. Zelgadis had read it once before, years ago, hoping to find some indication that the Pearl was real and still existed. He knew that the idea of a wish-granting jewel was probably too good to be true, but he'd been more disappointed to learn that the tale had no ending, and it never told what became of the sacred jewel. In fact, "The Quest of the Shattered Pearl" was really just the romantic story of a human girl who fell in love with a half-demon boy, and became caught up in his quest to recover the broken pieces of the jewel before they all fell into the hands of an ultimately evil demon.

As he half-heartedly read the story again, Zelgadis remembered another magical object it contained, besides great magical swords, mystical trees, sacred arrows, and the Pearl itself. Unlike the other mystical or demon-made objects in the story, Zelgadis realized excitedly that the spell that created this particular amulet might actually be real.

By the time Xelloss did appear again, he was ready to find out. The Mazoku appeared out of thin air in the clearing in the woods where Zelgadis had decided to stop for the night. His dark hair and cloak looked like deeper shadows in the dusk. His lips curled up in a smile when Zelgadis took an instinctive step backwards and hissed in surprise. Then Xelloss raised his head and opened his lavender eyes, and Zelgadis felt his breath catch in his throat.

"Aren't you ready for me tonight, Zelgadis-san?" Xelloss asked in a low voice as he came forward. "Should I go away and leave you alone, and come back another time? Or has your poor stone body had enough of me?"

Zelgadis swallowed with difficulty. "No," he whispered. "Don't go."

Xelloss smiled a cold smile and reached out to him. Zelgadis closed his eyes and shuddered from the force of need that shot through his body. The mere sound of Xelloss' voice was enough to make him hard now, and in just those few minutes he'd become so aroused that it was difficult to make the few steps across the clearing.

Even so, his heart was pounding with more than lust this time. He kept his anticipation hidden from Xelloss by reminding himself that his scheme was more likely to fail than to succeed. Even if the spell was real, something that had worked on a half-demon in a fairy tale was hardly likely to affect a high-ranking, pure Mazoku like Xelloss. Trying it could just get him killed, although given Xelloss' sense of humor it was more likely to amuse him with its stupidity.

Xelloss didn't seem at all surprised when Zelgadis came right over to him, not even when he grabbed Xelloss to himself and began to kiss him hungrily. He'd slipped his arms around Xelloss as soon as he was in reach, and now he twisted one hand in silky black hair while he held the other closed behind Xelloss' back.

"I guess I was wrong," Xelloss murmured, sounding amused. His mantle had fallen off his shoulders, and he chuckled as he undid Zelgadis' belt and let that fall as well, then ground their hips together. "You were quite ready enough for me after all, weren't you?"

"Very much so, damn you," Zelgadis muttered back, nipping his earlobe. "In fact I've been waiting for you - so that I could give you this!"

He pulled back suddenly, catching Xelloss by surprise. He drew the object he'd been hiding in his fist into both hands, and quickly slipped it up and over Xelloss' head. The rosary necklace of black onyx and dragons' teeth rattled softly as it settled around Xelloss' throat.

"Hm? What's this, Zelgadis-san? A gift for me? How unexpected!"

Xelloss sounded amused and delighted, but his face fell into a frown as he raised a hand and touched the beads. He lifted them up to try to get a look at them, but Zelgadis knew he could tell by the feel of it that they were charmed.

"A talisman?" Xelloss said wonderingly. He clicked his tongue. "You're not actually trying to put some kind of spell on me, are you? That would be a waste of magical energy, Zelgadis-san!"

Zelgadis pressed his own hand over Xelloss' on the beads and caught his eye. He gazed into lavender cat's-eye pupils as steadily as he could, given the pounding of his heart and the urgent swelling in his groin.

"Tell me, Xelloss, why should I want to put a spell on you? Is there a reason I should? Why are you doing this to me? What do you want from me, Mazoku?"

Xelloss frowned at him for a few heartbeats, and then slowly he smiled.

"Are you asking what my intentions are, Zelgadis-san, like some virginal maiden? I have no intentions. I'm simply using you for my pleasure, in odd moments when I have nothing better to do. I'm even giving you a little pleasure in return, which is actually quite generous of me considering what I could do to you if I wanted to. Were you expecting something more?"

Zelgadis stared hard at him, searching for the lie that might be hidden in his words. Was he expecting something more? That was the worst of it, he realized suddenly, the thing that was slowly driving him mad: he could have stood the seduction, but deep in his heart he wanted something more than sex from Xelloss. He wanted it to matter to the Mazoku, and of course it never would.

Xelloss cocked his head and then his smile grew wider.

"Don't tell me this is some kind of emblem of betrothal, or some foolish human custom of that kind! Oh, Zelgadis-san, I knew you were lonely, desperate, and inexperienced when I first took you, but I didn't think you were that naive!"

Zelgadis smiled back at him. "I might have been if you'd come to me years ago, before Rezzo destroyed my innocence; but no, Xelloss, I'm not that naive any longer. I only wanted to know if you have any ulterior motives beyond mere lust."

"None at all!" Xelloss said cheerfully. "Does that mean I don't get to keep your little gift?"

Zelgadis smiled. "Oh no; it's yours to keep, Xelloss. In fact, I insist you wear it, and never take it off again!"

Xelloss narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He shook Zelgadis' hand off his and tugged on the rosary again. His eyes widened. Zelgadis watched with held breath while Xelloss tried to pull it off and discovered he couldn't raise it past his chin. It was long enough, but some force held it in place even against his superhuman grip.

"What is this?" he demanded.

"Actually, you were right before. It is a talisman. A spell that you even you can't remove," Zelgadis said calmly, even though his heart was pounding with fear. He was amazed that this part of the spell worked, but that wasn't the important thing. The real power still had to be activated.

Zelgadis realized that he didn't know the word that would activate and seal the spell. The story only hinted that the word could be chosen by the spellcaster to suit the moment the spell was needed. The one the girl used on the half-demon in the story didn't seem powerful enough to put Xelloss in his place. He needed to think of something else, quickly, before Xelloss either found a way to tear the rosary off - or simply vanished.

"Do you mean to put a mark on me as your lover, for all the world to see? " Xelloss asked through a grim smile. "I can't allow that, I'm afraid! It wouldn't do at all for a Mazoku to be seen as the consort of some mere human, you know. I'd have to kill you for your arrogance, rather than let anyone think I'd willingly submit to wearing such a degrading symbol of connection to a mortal."

"Do you really think your kind are so far superior to us?" Zelgadis said. He grinned. Suddenly he knew the word he should use. It would be perfect - if it worked. If it didn't, he would probably be lucky if Xelloss only killed him.

"Xelloss," he said in a commanding tone. "Submit!"

Xelloss' eyes flew wide open even before Zelgadis had finished uttering the word. His hands fell to his side and his face froze with a look of horror as the rosary briefly glowed a bright pink. Disbelievingly, he glared at Zelgadis, but he didn't move. When he spoke, it seemed as if he had to force the words through unyielding lips.

"What... have... you... done?"

Zelgadis could hardly believe it himself, but clearly something had happened. Cautiously, he reached out and touched Xelloss' cheek. Xelloss blinked, but he didn't pull away or turn his head. Only his eyes seemed free to move, as if they were the only part of him still subject to his own will.

"I'm not quite certain," Zelgadis said softly in answer to his question, "but I think I've put you completely under my control. At least," he continued, barely breathing the words, "for the moment."

He didn't know how long the spell would last, or how strong it would be against Xelloss' will if it was severely strained. It also occurred to him with a jolt of fear that Xelloss might only be playing along, waiting to see what the spell was supposed to do. He stepped back and decided to test that theory.

"Xelloss, submit to me," he said quietly. "Kneel."

Instantly, Xelloss dropped to his knees. Finding himself there, he looked as shocked as Zelgadis felt, but not nearly as pleased.

"Impossible!" Xelloss croaked. "This can't... be..."

"Can't it?" Zelgadis echoed. He smiled down at Xelloss, whose face seemed locked in a grimace of horrified surprise. Zelgadis could barely see his eyes under his bangs, like glittering amethyst shards trying to stab upward at him.

How far would the spell hold? He'd only thought of getting free of Xelloss' erotic manipulation, but seeing Xelloss on his knees before him like this was far more arousing than he'd expected it would be. Having control of such a powerful - and sensual - being was as exciting as anything Xelloss had ever done to him. What else could he make Xelloss do? Just how submissive could he force Xelloss to be?

"Xelloss," he said, with a shiver of wicked anticipation, "down."

Xelloss lurched forward and down with a little gasp, until his forehead was nearly touching the ground right in front of Zelgadis' feet.

"No... "

Zelgadis barely heard the whisper from Xelloss' mouth, a horrified plea. The sound of Xelloss' voice had become an erotic beacon to him, but hearing it like that made him stiffen with desire even stronger than he'd felt before.

"Oh, yes," he said, smiling down at the Mazoku. "It's true, Xelloss. I have you completely under my control."

_to be continued._

(Yeah, Zel and I slightly modified the effect of the Beads of Subjugation - or maybe, you know, that girl in the story just didn't figure out all the other things she could have done with that half-demon! Please review if you like and want to see more of seme-Zelgadis in this story - or let me know if you'd rather see a lighter, more consensual version of uke-Xelloss in a different story instead. )


	2. The Seal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Word of Subjugation**

**Word of Subjugation**

By Tsutsuji

Chapter 2 of ?

Date written: September 16, 2006

Rating: mature. Warning: explicit male/male sex, non-consensual sex. Dark.

In progress.

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to the characters of Xelloss and Zelgadis, who were created to Hajime Kanzaka. Some of the ideas in this story belong to Rumiko Takahashi, the creator of Inuyasha. I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Summary: Finding that his spell to control Xelloss seems to be working, Zelgadis starts to consider new possibilities of things to do with a totally submissive Mazoku - until Xelloss regains control after all.

Part Two: The Seal

Zelgadis knelt down and ran his fingers through silky black strands of Xelloss' hair. He thought he heard a hiss as if Xelloss was in pain, but nothing more. Other than that, Xelloss remained where he was, on his knees on the ground with his face nearly in the dirt.

"You know, I was only planning to tell you to go away and leave me alone," he said thoughtfully, continuing to stroke Xelloss' hair. "But seeing you like this has changed my mind. It's you're own doing, Xelloss. You shouldn't have awakened all this need in me. Now, all that you've taught me, all that you've done to me - I want to do it all to you."

He slipped his fingers under Xelloss' chin and nudged it upward.

"Up, Xelloss," he said. "Kneel."

Xelloss rose up without resistance and sat back on his heels with his hands resting on his knees. His head remained bowed forward, though, so that Zelgadis couldn't see his eyes under the shadow of his hair.

"Look at me, Xelloss," he said.

More slowly, as if fighting the command this time, Xelloss raised his head and opened his eyes.

Zelgadis stared at him for a moment, as if seeing him for the first time. Without expression, Xelloss' face was handsome enough in an unremarkable way. It was the dangerous gleam in his amethyst-colored eyes that made him so erotically attractive, Zelgadis thought. But as dangerous as he was, Xelloss could do nothing when Zelgadis held his chin and leaned in close, except narrow his eyes and barely part his lips for another hiss of warning.

"Answer me with the truth: have you ever been taken in all the ways you've taken me?"

Purple eyes widened fractionally, and then narrowed.

"No," Xelloss answered.

Zelgadis smiled. Flushed with the erotic heat of newfound power, heart pounding, he pulled Xelloss' face to his.

"Good. Then I get to be your first just as you were mine. Kiss me."

Obediently, Xelloss parted his lips and met him in the kiss. It was nothing like the forceful, possessive invasion that the Mazoku's kisses usually were, but it was also not as entirely passive as Zelgadis expected. For once, Zelgadis could simply enjoy the taste of him, the soft pressure of his lips, the erotic feel of their tongues sliding together.

While he thoroughly explored Xelloss' mouth, Zelgadis shifted them around until he had pushed Xelloss to sit back against a stump near the edge of the clearing. Pinning him there with his knee between Xelloss' legs, he finally broke the kiss. As he'd hoped, in his passive state Xelloss responded just as readily to his touch as to a verbal command when Zelgadis pushed him back. He simply sat back against the stump, head slightly bowed and hands at his sides, waiting.

"Take off your shirt," Zelgadis said.

With a little difficulty from his position, Xelloss got the shirt off. The rosary strand settled just below his collarbone. Zelgadis ran his fingertips down from the dark beads over his bare chest, over smooth skin and the flat plane of Xelloss' stomach. He'd long since stopped thinking of this as just a temporary form Xelloss took, and he didn't think of that now, except to notice as he had before that it was so maddeningly near to perfect.

Curious, he slipped his hand down into Xelloss' trousers, not surprised to find his earlier erection had all but disappeared. He'd never seen Xelloss less than partially aroused, he realized. He'd only reached for Xelloss voluntarily like this before in the desperate heat of the moment, after being aroused enough to lose all sense of shame. He was not quite so overcome with lust now, but the power he had over Xelloss made the bold touch easier. He stroked Xelloss a few times, wondering if he would respond without being commanded to.

Xelloss sat back without moving, hands hanging limp at his sides, but his eyes stared up into Zelgadis' fiercely. Zelgadis leaned down and kissed him again, still fisting him inside his pants. A flush of triumph rushed through him when he heard the Mazoku make a sound low in his throat, and felt his arousal begin to swell again. It seemed that, under the spell, his body would respond to Zel's touch whether he willed it to or not.

He lifted Xelloss' hand and placed it over the slightly decreased bulge of his own erection.

"You know how to make me hard, Xelloss. You've done it often enough, just to make me squirm with wanting more of your touch. Do it now. Make me hard for you, Xelloss."

Immediately, Xelloss' hands cupped him warmly and squeezed with a familiar, undeniable touch. Zelgadis groaned and kissed Xelloss again, harder this time, thrusting his tongue deep into the trickster's hot mouth. Xelloss' touch was as deft as it had ever been, quickly bringing him to an urgent state of arousal.

He had to fight to keep from slipping into the habitual passive state of pleasure under that touch. Just as Xelloss had said, he did give Zelgadis pleasure, but always on his own terms, in his own time. He would stimulate Zelgadis expertly, but only enough to make Zelgadis grow frantic with need, willing to do anything as long as Xelloss would continue and bring him to release. It had become a habit to give in and let Xelloss do as he pleased.

Now, he knew, he had to stay in control as long as possible. It was far too soon to let go yet; he had to stay alert for signs that the spell might be breaking. But even as he thought this, he felt Xelloss' hand falter on him. His heart pounded in his throat when he saw the light in Xelloss' eyes flicker. He knew what that meant, but he couldn't move away in time.

He knew Xelloss could move faster than any human eye could see, but he was still surprised when he was suddenly flipped up and then slammed into the ground on his back. It knocked the air out of his lungs and he saw stars when his head hit the ground with a crack. When he could focus again, Xelloss stared down at him from above, and a claw-like hand had closed tightly around his throat.

"Your little gift is defective, it seems, Zelgadis-san," Xelloss purred, with a smile stretching across his face. "Your spell is already broken. Such a shame, too - just when things were getting interesting for you!"

Xelloss wedged his body in between Zelgadis' legs and pressed down, grinding his pelvis into Zel's erection. Tears sprang into Zelgadis' eyes from the pain, but Xelloss' hand at his throat was so tight he couldn't even gasp. Red sparks flashed in his vision.

"Tsk tsk, now I suppose I really will have to kill you after all," Xelloss said, caressing his cheek with his free hand. "I'm sorry to have to do that; you really have given me quite a lot of pleasure over the past several months. I don't think I've ever gotten anyone else to want me quite so badly as you have. It's been very entertaining."

He rolled his hips, making Zelgadis wince. The worst of it was that he was still hard, trapped under Xelloss in a position that was all too familiar and still erotic. Xelloss' smile grew even wider when he realized that as well.

"But first," Xelloss said, "I may as well finish what you started. Since I have nothing better to do, I may as well take you one last time before I kill you. But don't expect to enjoy it this time."

Xelloss lessened his grip enough to stroke Zel's throat, twisting Zel's wire-like hair in his other hand to pull his head back. Zelgadis licked dry lips and stared up into Xelloss' shadowed eyes. If his spell was truly broken already, he was going to die. If Xelloss would only take him one more time, he wasn't sure he even cared.

"Xelloss," he said in a cracked whisper. It came out sounding like a plea.

"Hm?" Looking amused by his effort to speak, Xelloss leaned closer and loosened his grip on Zel's throat a little more. "Did you want to plead for your life? Or curse me, perhaps? How lovely in either case! Go right ahead!"

"Xelloss," Zelgadis barely whispered. "Submit."

Xelloss glared at him in complete disbelief as the spell took hold again. Zelgadis watched, fascinated, as Xelloss struggled fiercely against the spell's power this time. Fury gleamed in his eyes at first, and then, for the briefest moment, fear flashed within them. Slowly, while Zel's heart raced through a hundred beats, Xelloss' hands lost their grip on his throat. The light in amethyst eyes disappeared behind drooping lashes, and Xelloss' head fell forward onto Zel's shoulder. He was still crouched on top of Zelgadis, but now it was in a posture of perfect humility.

Zelgadis took several deep breaths. It didn't stop his heart from pounding, but after a minute he smiled. The spell had passed the test. If it could keep Xelloss from killing him at a moment like that, it could probably get him to do anything.

He stroked Xelloss' hair, almost as if to console the defeated Mazoku.

"You didn't quite understand, Xelloss," he said softly. "Now you get the idea, don't you? The spell is permanent and constant, but the effect of Word of Subjugation only lasts for a while each time I speak it."

He lifted Xelloss' face to look at him again. His body was subdued, under Zel's control, but his will was still visible within his eyes, like purple flames staring out at him from the shadows.

"I created this spell especially for you, from a story I read. Maybe you've heard of it: the Quest of the Shattered Pearl? The story about a half-demon whose lover used a spell like this to control his demon side - does that sound familiar? Of course, I had to modify the spell to make it work on a full-blooded Mazoku like you. In your case, it really only affects the physical, human form you take. You can tell that's true, can't you?"

He saw Xelloss' eyes narrow and flicker as he recognized what Zel was talking about. He glanced down at his hands resting on Zel's chest, and then back up to meet Zel's eyes.

"Yes, I see you understand. In this form, whenever I say the Power Word of the spell, you have no will of your own over your physical body. All I have to do is say the Word of Subjugation: submit!"

Even though he'd only said it casually this time, without full intent, the Word of Subjugation worked through the talisman to sap Xelloss' will. A little groan escaped Xelloss as the power of the spell hit him again. His head drooped, and his eyes lowered before he could catch himself. When he forced his eyelids up again, the look in his eyes was deadly.

"You really do intend to kill me now, don't you?" Zelgadis said softly. Whether it was from the danger in those eyes, or from the power he had over Xelloss that kept that danger at bay, he felt a rush of excitement as he stared up at the Mazoku.

"More than just taking control of your will, though, the necklace binds you to me on the physical plane, and binds your life to mine. If you kill me - if I die in any way, in fact - your spirit will no longer be able to exert your will at all on this plane. You may appear in this body, still, but you will be completely powerless, just as you are now. Without my will to direct you, you won't be able to act in the physical realm ever again. So, you see, as long as I'm alive, you're free to do as you please when the spell wears off, when I release you, until I say the word. What do you think of my special spell for you, Xelloss?"

Xelloss' eyes widened and his mouth twitched. Of course, he couldn't answer. Zelgadis smiled.

"Tell me what you think, Xelloss."

"No," Xelloss whispered with a shudder as the spell released his voice.

Zelgadis ran his fingertips around Xelloss' mouth. "What are you trying to say? You can speak more clearly than that."

"I don't believe you," Xelloss hissed. "It's not possible."

"Don't you? Well, I admit, I'm not absolutely certain that it will work, but that was my intention when I cast the spell on the rosary. If you really don't believe it, I suppose you'll have to kill me and see what happens - if you want to take that chance."

Xelloss glared at him. "Not at the moment," he said after a few seconds. "But I'm sure that, in time, I'll find some other way to convince you to release me." The corners of his lips curled up in a hint of his familiar smile.

Zelgadis didn't say anything. The fact was, now that he thought about it, he didn't know how to reverse the spell if he wanted to.

But he didn't want to yet, anyway.

"We'll see," he said with a smile to match Xelloss' own. He tangled his fingers in Xelloss' hair again and pulled his face closer. "At the moment, I only intend to finish what we've started, so I'll ask you the same thing you ask me sometimes when you're feeling generous. How do you want me to take you, Xelloss? On your back, or on your knees?"

Having been given the power to speak, Xelloss was also able to refuse to answer, although his glaring eyes made his opinion of the question itself perfectly clear.

"Then I guess it's my choice," Zelgadis said. He raised his head to place his lips next to Xelloss' own. "Xelloss, submit!"

The spell renewed itself with its full force. For a second, as Xelloss managed to raise his eyes to look into Zel's again a moment later, there was a pleading look in them. Then it passed, and the cold glitter of rage was back.

"I think I want to see the look in your eyes while I do this," Zelgadis decided. "On your back, Xelloss - but first, take off the rest of your clothes."

(to be continued!)

_Notes: yeah, uke-Xelloss will actually happen in the next part! There's sort of a plot developing for this after all, but not enough of one to get in the way of the hotter stuff. Thanks for the reviews for the first chapter! Let me know what you think of this part, too, please! Thanks!_


	3. Reversal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Word of Subjugation**

**Word of Subjugation**

By Tsutsuji

Chapter 3 of ?

Fandom: Slayers

Pairing: Zelgadis/Xelloss

Rating: mature. Warning: yaoi, mind control, non-con.

Summary: Xelloss begins to experience the full power of Zelgadis' control over him.

Part Three: Reversal

Xelloss had never been so aware of his physical body before, of the skin that covered and defined his form, of limbs moving or unable to move, or of the touch of a hand on his face. As he remained crouching over Zelgadis after the the chimera-sorcerer had so unexpectedly renewed the spell, he could feel every inch of the clothing that was a part of him but separate, and he felt the power coursing within his human form like blood, heating and gathering in reponse to Zelgadis' touch. That touch ignited a kind of desire in his physical form that his mind didn't want to acknowledge, and his limbs couldn't.

How could this have happened, he asked himself furiously, as the power of Zelgadis' spell dragged him down into submission again. The only answer his mind spit back was that it _couldn't_ happen. No mere human sorcerer, even one of the chimera's caliber, could overpower a Mazoku's will so completely.

But if that was true, why was he unable to lift his head or move at all without Zelgadis' permission now? Why did he crouch here like this over the chimera, as if in some kind of worship of Zelgadis' body, until he was ordered to move? And when he did move, it was only to do exactly as Zelgadis had told him to do. Quickly and efficiently, he stood up and removed the rest of his clothes. He could have made them disappear with a thought, but he knew that wasn't what the words "take off your clothes" meant, so he removed each article piece by piece, as if they were real, and set them aside.

In a thousand years of masquarading in human form, Xelloss had never felt so naked.

Zelgadis sat up from where he'd been lying in the dirt, where Xelloss had put him in his brief, illusory moment of freedom, and watched him undress. Xelloss couldn't raise his head to look at the chimera directly, but he could see him there through his lowered lashes. Beyond the heat of Zelgadis' stare, he could sense the chimera's desire for his body grow even stronger as it was revealed to his gaze.

That desire had been inflamed by his own doing, he reminded himself. He'd taught Zelgadis all too well how to arouse this body, just to make it appear that he actually felt desire for Zelgadis and pleasure in his touch. Of course, he didn't, no matter how much he'd smiled and caressed Zelgadis; a Mazoku could never feel pleasure in a human's touch, but hunger could be disguised as desire to fool a human's desperate heart. And hunger could be stoked to the force of need, and Zelgadis knew how to fan those flames in Xelloss' physical form now.

Xelloss thought he could stand the assault on his human form if Zelgadis simply fucked him; he might even salvage some enjoyment out of the rage and shame Zelgadis would feel if he did so, but rape in that fashion wasn't in the chimera's cold heart after all. Instead, as soon as he'd undressed, Zelgadis came over to him and teased his body to a state of evident arousal, and then pushed him down onto his back on the dirt, gently, and dropped down to stretch out over him with their legs entangled.

"Submit, Xelloss..." Zelgadis whispered, reviving the spell's power once again. But even as the weight of the spell chained him down, Zelgadis' trained and talented touch caressed his aroused body in the all the ways Xelloss had taught him, with an infuriating but inevitable result. The only difference now was that Zelgadis was the one coaxing Xelloss to open up to him, and Xelloss was the one who was reluctant, knowing better, but who couldn't resist.

"Submit to me, Xelloss," Zelgadis said again, long before it was necessary this time, teasing Xelloss' lips with the words. "Give in to me... want me..."

Strangling a moan he knew Zelgadis wanted to hear, Xelloss complied in all the rest of the chimera's unspoken intentions. Just as he'd taught Zelgadis how to do whatever gave him pleasure, he had, naturally, learned every movement and sound and touch that pleasured Zelgadis to a state of mindless need. Only, this time, Zelgadis didn't quite lose himself in the sensations and the fantasy of being wanted. Xelloss' slim hope that he would forget to speak the Word of Subjugation in time - he would be so much quicker to react when the spell faltered again! - did not materialize. Far from neglecting the spell, Zelgadis melded the word of power into his rhythmic moans. When Zelgadis entered him, it was Xelloss who lost all thought and logic, reeling from the intensity of the invasion. With every maddening thrust, Zelgadis drove him further down into utter submission at the same time he pounded Xelloss' physical form into the dirt.

It was no pleasure this time for Xelloss to feel the familiar dark waves of Zelgadis' lonely, desperate need wash over him. He was bound by the spell to fulfill Zelgadis' desire, and even if that true desire was unspoken, Xelloss knew what it was: to be wanted and desired in turn. The evidence of that was the arousal and pleasure of his lover, so Xelloss had no choice but to let desire build and twist inside himself, in his body, and then to wait at the brink for the final command from the one who had mastered him.

"Xelloss," Zelgadis whispered raggedly, panting against his face so that his rough stone skin scraped Xelloss' cheek. "Submit... Come for me, Xelloss."

Xelloss came, screaming fury to the sky.

Zelgadis finished soon afterward, as far as Xelloss could tell in the daze that had begun to fill his mind. He found he'd somehow got his arms around the chimera's body, digging in to the resilient skin of Zel's back with his fingertips, and his legs were hooked around Zelgadis' back as well. Now, not knowing how he had done this, he couldn't move again to let go until Zelgadis ordered it.

\- Or, he thought as his mind cleared a little, as the minutes passed with Zelgadis lying limp and spent on top of him, not until the spell wore off and freed him. But just as he felt the twitch of his own power jump into his limbs, Zelgadis sighed the Word against his chest.

"Submit, Xelloss." With another sigh, he rolled off of Xelloss and onto his back, throwing an arm over his eyes.

Xelloss lay there sprawled on his back, staring up at the sky. He waited for the next command, expecting a renewal of the same activity in one of the many inventive ways he'd taken Zelgadis in the past several months, but then he realized Zelgadis' mood had changed. Unfortunately, Xelloss couldn't enjoy the chimera's dark emotional energy which seemed to have developed a new, twisted edge. He couldn't revel in the shame and disgust that must be welling up inside Zelgadis now that he had time to think about what he'd just done. He could only hope that regret would steal power from the spell, or even move Zelgadis to break it completely.

He began to imagine the revenge he would take, but before his thoughts could go very far in that direction, Zelgadis sat up and stared down at him with ice-blue eyes, and spoke again.

"Now. Go away."

Xelloss stared back at him, baffled and enraged, for a second. Suddenly he realized that Zelgadis' wish to be rid of him was so strong that it freed him to escape the physical plane. He let his human form dissolve, and vanished, leaving the chimera sitting alone on the ground in the clearing.

Elated to find himself free, Xelloss streaked across astral space to the island that lay far to the south, half in and half out of physical space. But before he materialized there, he paused to test his condition.

It was maddening; he had his full strength here on the astral side, and yet there was something dragging at him back in the physical world, and the lingering impression of having a weight around his neck. He was horrified to realize that what Zelgadis had intended might very well be true. He could sense some kind of binding, like a thin thread of magical power, that seemed to go from the place he'd just left in physical reality to a point deep inside him. It still seemed impossible, but that thread might very well bind his power on the physical plane to Zelgadis' life.

Xelloss materialized at the far end of Wolf Pack Island, high on the edge of a cliff where he often watched the waves crash as the storms spiraled up from the chaotic intersection of worlds at the Island's edge. Back in physical form again - but far, far from the power of Zelgadis' Word of Subjugation - he felt the spell weighing on him even more acutely, like the humming ache that remained from Zelgadis' assault on his apparently human body. He lifted and fingered the beads strung around his neck. They had been dragged with him through the astral plane even though they weren't part of him and he hadn't intended to bring them, and that was proof enough that the spell still held its power over his will.

Any spell could be broken. That thread, he thought, could surely be cut, its hook ripped out of him by someone with greater power. He shuddered with shame at the thought of telling his Mistress what he'd done, but he had no choice. He was no use to her like this. She would be furious, no doubt, but she must have the power to break Zelgadis' spell.

She must.

_to be continued_


	4. Incision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Word of Subjugation**, chapter 4 of ?

**Word of Subjugation**, chapter 4 of ?

_By Tsutsuji_

Fandom: Slayers

Pairing: Zelgadis/Xelloss

Rating: Mature-NC17.

Warnings: yaoi, mind control, non-con, violence. Also, not beta'd.

Comments: Are much loved. Really. A lot.

Summary: Xelloss hopes that Zelas can break Zelgadis' hold over him, but when that doesn't work, he returns - like a recurrring nightmare - to try to convince Zelgadis to release him. (Remember, folks, Xelloss is a _demon_, and Zelgadis is no saint, either!)

_Part Four: Incision_

Xelloss' Mistress found him out on the cliff's edge, before he worked up the nerve to go to her. He licked his lips nervously as Zelas approached, and lowered his eyes, focusing on her bare feet and the hem of her gown swishing over the windswept grass. She slowed when she came closer, and he looked up in time to see her raise her head as if to sniff the air. Her silvery eyes gleamed as they focused on him again. Xelloss winced; she must have already sensed the spell bound into him.

"Xelloss," she said as she came closer. She tipped her head to look him up and down, and for a moment he was distracted by the flash of white-gold hair falling over her face.

"Jou-sama," he said, bowing formally. A shudder ran through him. Obeisance was natural to him as a Mazoku underling and as priest of the Greater Beast, but the show of respect was tarnished by the memory of his submission to Zelgadis moments before.

"What have you done, Xelloss-san?" she said. Her tone was musingly curious, but her gaze raked both false flesh and soul, cutting into him on all levels of his being. "Your fascination with humans has rewarded you with a little gift, I see."

She reached up and touched the Beads, running long, curved fingernails over them with a soft clacking sound. Xelloss shifted uncomfortably; unlike everything else that he appeared to wear, he could not feel her touch on the Beads.

Her curious smile turned to a frown as she studied them, and the frown deepened when she looked into his face.

"Explain, Xelloss," she said. There was an edge of anger in her voice already. Naturally, her words held all the power of Zelgadis' spell and more, but even in the face of the rage he expected, it was a relief to do exactly as _she_ commanded.

He confessed his seduction of the chimera lightly, though he suspected she was already aware of his indulgence. His attempt at his usual self-deprecating humor, with which he usually entertained her when explaining his little failures, fell flat when he described how easily Zelgadis had ensnared him in the spell. Her eyes narrowed as he described the spell, and then flashed as his words faltered to silence before telling her the details of its effects.

She lifted his chin with her finger, and he forced himself to look steadily into her eyes. She raised one eyebrow, her elegant lips curled upward, amused at his discomfort.

"Xelloss-san," she said musingly. "The other Lords said I made you too strong; I've always wondered if I made you a little too human! Go on," she commanded. She stepped back and folded her arms.

Out of habit, Xelloss appeared to take a deep breath (too human indeed, he thought sharply as he caught himself). Keeping his voice even, he described all that he'd done under Zelgadis' control.

When he was done he fell silent, and waited. She stared at him with the slight smile still on her lips, but he didn't think she truly found his story humorous at all. At least, he hoped not. A horrible thought occured to him - surely she wouldn't let him stay this way!

"You'll go back to him, I suppose," she said after a while. Her voice was casual, her head tipped to the side as she watched him.

"I - " he began. "No. If I don't go near him again..."

"The spell will remain in effect throughout his life," she reminded him, "which, I must assume, will be very long. We don't know its full power, perhaps the chimera doesn't even know its strength. His thought alone might be enough to bind you, for all we can tell."

"Surely not!" Xelloss exclaimed.

She touched the beads again, and again he shuddered at the strange sensation of not feeling her touch. At the same time, on the astral side, she reached out and curled a part of her spirit around the thread of power, and tugged on it. Xelloss winced as something inside him twisted.

She let go and stood back again, looking thoughtful.

"Mistress," he burst out, suddenly desperate. "Please, break this spell. Take it out of me, please! I can't ...bear it..."

"Xelloss-san," she said, with a flash of humor again, "you should know by now how strongly your human admirers can become attached to you! You want to reject your lover's little gift so quickly?"

"Please!" he begged. He grabbed the beads and held them out to her as far as they would reach. "Take them off!"

She nodded, smiling grimly. "Yes, I think that would be best."

She closed her clawed fist around them and pulled.

Xelloss winced when he felt onyx and dragon's teeth digging into the back of his neck. Zelas tugged on the necklace experimentally, twisting the strand this way and that, testing the strength of it against the solidity of Xelloss' physical form. Try as he might, he could not simply will his form to let them pass through, as he should be able to do. Worse still was the sense of the spell's power cutting into his spirit as his Mistress pulled on that level as well.

Unable to simply yank them off of him, she stopped pulling and let them fall into place around his throat. Her long fingernails clicked against the beads where they rested on his shirt. Xelloss craned his neck to look down at her hand on them. Both his spirit and body shuddered where she touched him, both the shell he wore and the true body beyond it. He watched as her fingers appeared to slip into fabric, and deeper, into his flesh.

At first, her touch was almost a caress, parting his illusionary flesh gently, as she traced the shape of the necklace around his throat, slowly cutting into him deeper with the soft burn of her power. He realized she was only exploring the shape of the spell, searching for an end to the strand.

Xelloss watched her face for a moment, her gleaming eyes looking inside of him, feeling him, lips parted and nostrils flared to sense his spirit and the spell wound into it. Then he saw her eyes narrow - and the next thing he knew was blinding, searing pain as her talons sliced right through him, flesh and spirit at once.

He screamed, without reservation or shame. To offer her his agony was as natural as a human's breathing. He felt his energy begin to leak away, bleeding from him through the gashes she cut around the spell.

Then all at once he felt a deeper, sharper pain, like a shaft of light, so intense he could not even scream into it, such a deep, sweet pain that it was almost a pleasure - a pleasure so intense it was torture.

He heard his Mistress growl. Then suddenly, he found himself on his knees in the grass, solidly back on the physical plane. Zelas stood above him, her face dark except for the gleam of her eyes. Her hands dripped with black energy, the blood of his astral energy that still seeped from the gashes she'd made.

He dragged his awareness back together, coalescing his will in body and spirit - and found, to his horror, that the spell remained in place, twisted around his soul, a choking weight around his physical body, like a hand of stone gripping his throat.

"Quite an impressive piece of magic your sorcerer friend has devised," Zelas said, showing feral teeth as she smiled down at him. Her voice was light but laced with fury, as much at himself as at Zelgadis, Xelloss had to assume. "I will need to look into it further."

He blinked up at her, unable to speak. Her golden eyes watched his fingers clench over the wounds she'd given him.

"There's no point in my trying to cut it out of you any more at the moment. I can't break the spell that way, so I'll leave you alone to heal," she said.

She looked down at him with an arched eyebrow and a cool smile.

"Of course you'll want to conduct your own inquiries," she said. She sounded as much amused as angry now, to his surprise, but of course it was all at his expense in either case. And well she should be angry, he thought, with a grimace as he tried to staunch the flow of his bleeding darkness and knit his substance back together. "While I'm investigating this peculiar magic, perhaps you'll find the answer on your own. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll just have to make the best of your chimera lover's little gift for now, Xelloss-san," she added, just before she turned and walked away.

He would have groaned out loud at those words, if he'd had the strength left to do so.

_Find the answer on your own_... Xelloss looked up after she'd gone, staring grimly at the stormy skies above the island. Her words were his orders, as always, he decided. As soon as he healed, that was exactly what he intended to do.

***

The voice came from the shadows, as smooth and cool as the night air, as soft as the waves lapping at the shore of the lake where Zelgadis had camped.

"When you said 'go away,' you didn't mean 'stay away,' did you, Zel-san?"

He thought he was dreaming. He'd hardly slept for so long, it had become hard to tell dream from waking, and that soft voice had haunted the brief moments of sleep he'd managed to steal since he last saw Xelloss.

The lack of sleep made him slow. The Trickster Priest was on him before he knew he was really awake after all, and the full weight of an angry demon in physical form slammed him to the ground. He barely had time to yelp in surprise before Xelloss flipped him over, face down in the dirt, arms and legs splayed wide and pinned to the ground.

It took a few more seconds to realize he'd been hit with more than mere physical force, and that his mind was muddle by more than simply the lack of sleep. All of his wakeful nights and days had imagined this: an attack in the dark, a mazoku's spell that would render him unable to speak, and a swift return to his helpless submission under Xelloss' seductive control. His mind seemed disconnected from his tongue, and he hardly recognized the sounds coming from his mouth as his own voice, only knowing that he must be making useless sounds of protest and pain - as Xelloss clawed at his limbs and ripped his clothes to shreds, and bored down on him...

Zelgadis had known, really, that Xelloss had only let him struggle and fight against him in the past for his own amusement, on those occasions when Zelgadis tried to fight him off, until he was ready to take him in whatever way he wanted. False hope, he'd guessed, was a better appetizer for the ultimate feast of humiliating defeat than the quick and easy conquest he could have been. This time, though, Xelloss wasted no time on preliminaries at all. It was only surprising, deep in the fog of Zelgadis' spell-seared mind, that the mazoku even cared to use him this way again, rather than simply tearing him limb from limb, as his nightmares had expected.

Not that this assault was any better than his worst dreams. Holding his head down in the rough sand, Xelloss lifted his hips and entered him, so hard and so fast Zelgadis could hardly catch enough breath to scream. The mazoku's fingers dug into his hard skin like talons, and after a few swift thrusts, he slowed his movements and leaned down over Zel's back. All Zelgadis could see and taste was the dirt, gasping in mouthfuls of it, but he could imagine the nightmare gleam in Xelloss' violet eyes as he bent close.

"I will find a way to make you release me from this spell, Zelgadis-san." The voice was velvety soft, but it cut through Zel's muddled mind like a beacon slicing through the fog. "One way or another..."

Each word was punctuated with a deep thrust, and, to Zel's sudden horror, accompanied now by those dangerous fingers curling up tight on his crotch - not to stimulate him, but to threaten with the one horror even his nightmares had not imagined.

Panic raced through him, making his thoughts whirl even more wordlessly than before. Xelloss sighed happily against his shoulder.

"Your pain and fear is even more delicious than your usual desperation, Zelgadis-san! I should have just done it this way from the start."

Why didn't you ? Zelgadis wondered again, just as he had from the moment he realized Xelloss was playing with him. But his mind was still numb from whatever magic Xelloss had used, and even the question disintegrated into meaningless sounds inside his head.

"Release me," Xelloss whispered harshly into his ear. The fingertips lightened their grip, became a brief caress; Xelloss shifted his hips so that the next thrust sparked a terrible jolt of pleasure through the pain. "Release me now, and I'll allow you one more moment of pleasure before you die..."

For a moment, Zelgadis thought this must really be one of his horrible dreams after all, because all of them took this turn, just before he clawed his way awake again in horror. In his nightmares, he always knew he would give in.

And yet, in a way, the nightmares were a relief from his waking memory of what he'd done, and how much he'd enjoyed it.

Even Xelloss' spell couldn't silence the desire to taste that power again, any more than his own denial of it had been enough to keep him from repeating a single word, day and night, without thinking. His mind was blank; with each gasp of pain, he choked on the grit that filled his mouth, and he hardly heard his own voice scream into the ground.

"_Submit_!"

Xelloss froze in the midst of another violent thrust. Zelgadis blinked dirt out of his eyes. Suddenly everything was blindingly sharp again as his senses cleared; Xelloss wrapped around him and inside of him, the scent of lust and magic rising around them, his own heart pounding in his chest and the soft sound of Xelloss hissing through his teeth - unable to do anything else.

Zelgadis lifted his head a little and spat out a mouthful of dirt. Xelloss' hand in his hair was now only a yielding weight on his head, and his other hand still clutched loosely around Zel's crotch, more enticing than threatening now that the murderous will behind it was subdued.

He moved, flexing slowly back against Xelloss, finishing the movement the mazoku had begun, and then slightly forward again to press himself into the cupped hand. Xelloss shuddered, and Zel rolled his hips back again, slowly, twisting a little and clenching his own muscles so that Xelloss gave out a tiny gasp.

"That's it," Zelgadis said, softly, hardly aware that he spoke out loud. He reached down and pressed Xelloss' hand into place around himself, and finally, turned his head enough to look up over his shoulder and see the mazoku's face.

Dark hair fell across Xelloss' cheek like the shadows around them, and his lips were parted on a grimace of disbelief and fury. Dark, violet eyes glittered. Zelgadis smiled.

"Xelloss... submit, and... don't stop." He flexed his hips forward and then back again, making his meaning perfectly clear. "Go on, Xelloss. Finish this, only, make it good for me now..."

The dark eyes narrowed marginally, then closed as the furious tension in Xelloss' arms melted into a purely sensual embrace. Without another sound of protest, and with the attentive touch of a devoted lover, Xelloss did exactly as he was told.

_to be continued_


	5. Reactions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Word of Subjugation,** chapter 5: Reactions

**Word of Subjugation,** chapter 5: Reactions

_by Tsutsuji_

Fandom: Slayers

Pairing: Xelloss x Zelgadis

Rating: Mature. yaoi, mind-control, non-con, some violence. not beta'd.

Date Written: 3/8-15/09

Word count, chapter 5: around 2500

Summary: Xelloss is reminded that being on top doesn't necessarily mean being in control, and denial doesn't change reality. Zelas has her own opinions about the matter.

_Chapter 5: Reactions_

Xelloss could not believe it. _Refused_ to believe it, with all his considerable strength of will and spirit. That refusal did nothing to keep the spell from dragging him under Zelgadis' control again and turning his beautiful attack into an embrace.

Hardly comprehending what was happening to him, Xelloss felt his physical form respond with a hot rush of desire when Zelgadis moved under him. The chimera's body drew him in with a maddeningly slow, controlled reversal of his own violent thrusts, and then pressed forward again to caress his palm with a swiftly hardening erection. Flesh that Xelloss had been fully prepared to rip to shreds a moment ago was now a pleasure sliding across his cupped hand, simply because Zelgadis meant it to be.

When Zelgadis moved back against him again and tightened around him, Xelloss was forced to react, knowing that the chimera intended him to. But even as his body responded to both the intent and the order from Zelgadis' lips, he roared with fury inside.

_This could not be!_

If only he had not amused himself for so long by learning this chimera's heart and mind, what pleased him, even his unspoken desires, so that he knew exactly what to do to bring the stone-clad body to the height of pleasure, Xelloss thought; then maybe his will would not be so easily subsumed by this curse. Maybe then he could, at the very least, do nothing at all. But since he did know, he had no choice but to caress Zelgadis' rough skin with sensual fingertips, and to press himself against the arching, pebble-studded back and to move exactly as Zelgadis wished him to. He had no choice but to let physical desire build in his own shell of a body, as if Zelgadis' moans gave him as much pleasure as his screams of pain had provided, as if the hard body writhing under his was as stimulating as its panic-ridden struggles had been.

And, maybe, Xelloss thought, if he hadn't waited so long to make up his mind to attack the wandering sorcerer even after he'd healed from Zelas-sama's attempt to excise the spell, maybe Zelgadis would not have become so desperate for his touch again, and so near mad with guilt, fear, and lack of sleep that he hardly knew or cared what he did. With none of his usual reluctance, none of the delicious shame the chimera usually felt when needy desire overtook him, Zelgadis pleaded with Xelloss to keep moving inside him, deeper and harder, pleaded for more just as Xelloss had enticed him to so many times - but this time, under the power of the spell, those same pleas carried the power of commands that Xelloss could not refuse to follow.

The word of power fell from Zelgadis' lips over and over, almost with each gasp, and even if it was nearly mindless now, it was still more than enough to keep the spell in force. Xelloss soon gave up hope that Zelgadis would slip and forget to speak it as long as he was in the grip of passion like this, and he had no chance to silence him. Even when he reached forward to touch Zelgadis' lips and dip his fingers inside the chimera's mouth, it was only because he had learned from his seduction how hotly Zelgadis' arousal was inflamed by this stimulation, especially when Xelloss was already moving inside of him. The power of the Word of Subjugation still washed over him, simply another part of the hot, panting breath and lips and tongue that sucked greedily on his fingers.

It was a strange parody of all his past manipulation for him to bring Zelgadis to climax first, which he had done so often in the past as proof of his control. Only after Zelgadis was spent - still muttering the cursed Word in the daze that followed - did he follow with his own climax. Xelloss groaned out loud against Zelgadis' shoulder as his pent up energy was finally released, not in the rage he'd intended it to be but in waves of sensual pleasure.

And then he had nothing to do but wait for Zelgadis to dive into the pit of shame and horror at himself, and to send him away again.

They fell onto the ground together, Xelloss with his arms around Zelgadis, holding him close and sprawling half on top of him, still inside him, on the cold sand. With his face pressed to the back of Zelgadis' neck and shoulder, nuzzling into the wiry strands of his hair, Xelloss waited. He couldn't see the chimera's face, so he was spared the sight of the triumphant smirk that might be there. Zelgadis was limp, utterly relaxed, practically melted into the ground, like stone dissolving into sand.

Absently, Xelloss counted a dozen of Zelgadis' breaths slowing back to normal, and listened for the words that would release him at least to the astral plane. There, at least, he would be out of reach of the spell's renewal, and out of reach of the distracting knowledge of what Zelgadis wanted. Even if it was unspoken, this was the one certain thing Xelloss had made sure never to give him: to be held like this, afterward. This was exactly the moment when Xelloss always abandoned him, flinging him back to his usual solitary, unloved existence.

This time, he would happily settle for being sent away on a wave of shame instead. Instead, he was compelled to stay this way until Zelgadis commanded differently, or until the power of the Word faded.

At least the sorcerer had stopped repeating it incessantly. Xelloss wasn't sure when he had last heard it muttered, in between rising moans, or even how much time had passed. Why did it seem to be lasting so much longer now? Had the sorcerer somehow increased the power and duration of the spell?

He lifted his head to glare down at Zelgadis, and heard the beads of the rosary rattle as he moved - and only then realized that he had moved on his own. The spell...

Xelloss froze, immobilized by shock as completely as he'd been at first by Zelgadis' spell, eyes wide as he stared down at the calm face and closed eyes. The exhausted sorcerer had succumbed to sleep in his arms, limp, oblivious, and silent. The seal of the spell still hung around him, but the power of the Word of Subjugation had already dissipated; he was free to move. He hadn't even noticed.

Fury replaced horror in a rush of power returning to his limbs. Xelloss pulled away and rose up onto his hands and knees over the sleeping body. He leaned forward again, one hand raised above Zelgadis' head.

Silvery lashes fluttered against the stone chips around Zelgadis' eyes. The chimera opened his eyes, turned his head slightly, and gazed straight up at Xelloss. His lips parted, and Xelloss suddenly knew that this time, he would not tell him to go, but to stay.

Horrified, Xelloss let his physical body dissolve and fled to the astral realm.

***

Zelas paused in her stroll along the island's edge when she sensed Xelloss nearby. The sweet tang of a mazoku in pain came to her, and she realized he must have managed to get himself injured again. Usually she let him nurse his wounds alone and quietly enjoyed his agony until he was ready to amuse her with his excuses, but she hadn't sent him on any missions that should have led to him getting injured. But he definitely seemed to be in pain, and considering the unexpected power of that spell he'd managed to get himself ensnared in, she decided she'd better see what kind of trouble he'd brought on himself this time.

She found him among the stones on the quiet, barren side of her domain. A shadow in human form, crouched among the blacker shadows there, Xelloss huddled on hands and knees, muttering to himself. One hand clutched at the charmed rosary around his throat, the other scrabbled in the jagged slate shards underneath him on the ground.

He had been trying to remove the rosary again, she realized. Apparently he'd been working at it for some time before she noticed him, and with his own claws he had gouged his throat and shoulders nearly as deeply as she did earlier.

She shook her head, but watched him quietly for a minute. He'd given up scrabbling at it for now, and muttered to himself in a petulant, puzzled voice, as if finding that force didn't work, he thought he might be able to reason his way out of the spell instead.

"Why can't I take hold of this thing?" he whined, clutching at the air this time. He was reaching for the thread of the spell on the astral side, and missing it completely. "I feel the weight of it; why can't I touch it, like I can touch it - here?"

His fingertips glanced off the rosary beads as if the touch stung his hand. On the physical plane, the rosary existed as shining dark onyx beads and dragon's teeth, strung on a silver wire around Xelloss' throat, untouched by the darkness that oozed from the wounds he'd given himself. Zelas could see the magical strand just as clearly where it had melded into his astral body. She had touched it earlier, but she wasn't surprised that Xelloss seemed to not be able to.

She felt an urge to laugh at him, partly in relief when she saw that the damage was not serious after all, and clearly not from any actual attack by Zelgadis - that would have complicated matters for her considerably. But she decided against it; her poor priest was so confused already! Besides, he so clearly expected her anger, which he also deserved. She stepped forward and gave it to him.

He looked up, startled, so caught up in his own misery that he hadn't noticed her until now. She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up to face her, and as soon as his eyes widened in surprise, fully focused on her, she slapped him hard. He fell back to his knees, his head snapped to the side and his dark hair whipping across his reddened face.

In spite of her anger and amusement, Zelas kept her voice cool and calm when she spoke.

"I have not given you permission to do harm to yourself, have I, Xelloss-san?" she said.

"No, of course not," he answered, with a little gasp as he realized what he'd done to himself and how it reflected on her. He hung his head, finally with all of his attention on her instead of on his own little bout of misery.

"Forgive me, Juuou-sama," he said, his voice deep with the proper note of respect. His hair hung over his face, hiding his eyes from her, but that also allowed her to smile without him noticing.

"I thought I made it clear that this spell cannot be removed in this way," she said curtly, drawing her mouth back into a disapproving frown. "Aside from the inconvenience of having you bound to this human's life, there is nothing else wrong with you, is there?"

"Inconvenience!" he said; he raised his head a little and blinked in surprise.

He was obviously shocked that she thought that's all it was, merely an inconvenience to himself and to her. Well, it was a little more than that, but he needed to be reminded that it had certainly not Ruined him yet, at any rate.

She watched his face as he frowned, obviously considering whether to argue with her - and deciding against it. If he took stock of himself, he would see that she was right. There was nothing else wrong with him. Without the chimera to activate it, the spell merely remained in place around him, no more of a hindrance to his abilities than the necklace that represented it was to his movement.

"You're quite right, Mistress," he said after a moment. "I've allowed myself to become distracted by this matter far too deeply. I'm sure that, in time, you'll find a way to remove it from me, anyway..."

He couldn't completely disguise the question that he didn't dare ask outright: had she found out any more about the spell, anything that would allow her to remove it? She smiled down at him where he crouched in front of her, and he tilted his head to glance up at her. Knowing that she saw right through him, he risked a sheepish grin.

She decided she might as well indulge his curiosity a little, as much as she could for now. She had learned a great deal, even in the last few minutes, but very little that Xelloss needed to hear.

"I know much more about it than I did at first," she said. "I still need to confirm my theories about certain aspects of the spell. It is - unique, I believe. But then, Xelloss, I made you unique as well," she added, finally letting some of her amusement show. "I'm sure only my impulsive priest could get himself into such a compromising situation!"

Blushing like a human caught naked in public, Xelloss laughed awkwardly, then caught himself and winced when his movement reminded him of the gashes in his physical body.

"Go and heal, again, Xelloss-san," she said dismissively. "And remember to report to me if you discover anything new about the spell, of course, when you see the chimera again," she added casually.

Xelloss' jaw dropped. Zelas had to turn away quickly, before he saw her laughing at him. She knew he didn't really need either a reminder or her permission to go back to Zelgadis again; he wouldn't be able to help himself, if she understood the spell correctly. He'd feel better if he had it, though, so she decided to indulge him after all.

She smiled as she walked away, while Xelloss stood up and brushed himself off, pulling both his tattered clothes and his thoughts together. Satisfied that he would not try to tear himself apart over this again, she decided she should keep a closer eye on him for awhile just the same, to see how this situation progressed.

There was also that other aspect of the spell that she still needed to check into - but that would require one of her rare visits to the human world. She was already looking forward to it.

_(to be continued)_


	6. Intentions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Word of Subjugation,** chapter 6: Intentions

**Word of Subjugation,** chapter 6: Intentions

_by Tsutsuji_

Fandom: Slayers

Pairing: Xelloss x Zelgadis

Rating: Mature. yaoi, mind-control, non-con, some violence. not beta'd. (but nothing alarming in this chapter)

Date Written: 4/25/09

Disclaimer: In case I haven't mentioned it lately, tsutsuji does not own Slayers or any of these characters, and does not make any money from writing this.

Summary: Zelgadis never expected to meet Zelas Metallium in person, and certainly not under these circumstances.

_Chapter 6: Intentions_

Zelgadis woke up to the sound of water lapping at the shore, the smell of wet sand in his face, his body aching and stiff - and the sudden realization that he'd fallen asleep with Xelloss still on top of him.

He sprang up from the ground in alarm, fully expecting to see amethyst eyes glaring into his with a deadly smile, right before he was struck dumb by some hideous mazoku attack spell. It took his sleep-muddled mind several seconds to realize that he was completely alone, and that the dark had given way to misty daylight over the lake. He must have slept for hours. His clothing was torn and his tunic was half buried in the sand, but aside from the familiar ache of having Xelloss pounding into him, his body and his spirit were unharmed.

There was sand under his fingernails, gouges in the ground beneath him where he'd clawed at the earth. Wet sand was caked on to his body; even his hair was full of it. He stood and gazed down at the marks left in the ground by their struggle together. He couldn't understand why Xelloss hadn't seized the opportunity to attack him. He could not remember how it had ended, or how long Xelloss had stayed with him afterward. His mind had been too hazy with exhaustion and lust to remember what he'd said to Xelloss, whether he'd told the mazoku to go away and leave him alone as he had the time before, or - if he'd said something else.

He was baffled by the fact that it was, apparently, safe to fall asleep after all. He had been horrified at himself for taking Xelloss the way he did the last time; now, he thought, he should be even more disgusted; he'd had Xelloss under his control again, and yet he'd only asked for more of what he'd always resisted before. All he could feel was the dull ache of shame for still wanting Xelloss as much as he ever.

None of it made sense anymore - if it ever did - so Zelgadis decided to simply stop thinking for a while. He bathed in the lake, put on fresh clothes, and headed down the mountain. At least he didn't have to worry about whether the spell continued to hold, or whether he'd suddenly forget how to activate it when the time came; it was ingrained on his mind now, just as deeply as any other spell or sword-skill he'd trained himself to use without conscious thought. After this last encounter, he was finally confident that he'd be able to control Xelloss even if the mazoku took him by surprise again - short of a direct attack from the astral side, perhaps, but there was really no way a human could defend against that, so there was no point worrying about it.

He had a nagging feeling that his confidence was as illogical as his exhausted paranoia had been, but he ignored that along with all his other questions. Somehow, over the next few days, he found himself returning to his former routine - wandering, taking work as a sorcerer-swordsman, and hiding his face from suspicious humans. As the days went by and Xelloss did not return, Zelgadis began to wonder if he'd finally convinced the annoying bastard to leave him alone.

He tried to convince himself that he was pleased with that result. After all, that was his original, desperate intention when he decided to use this spell, wasn't it? He never intended to bind Xelloss to him, or to simply get more of the maddening pleasure the mazoku had teased him with for so long. He never meant to make Xelloss his...

Two weeks, three, then a month went by in this strangely normal way. Zelgadis realized that he'd come to expect Xelloss to appear at any time he was alone, and especially at night, whether he was camping in the wild or settling into some room at an inn somewhere along the road. Even before he'd had cast the spell, waiting for Xelloss to appear had become a habit he was barely aware of.

Aside from that, though, as a sorcerer and warrior, his senses had long ago become attuned to detect any demonic presence; he only assumed such a presence would always be Xelloss now, at least in lonely places. Of all the humiliation Xelloss had put him through, seducing him in public was one horror he had so far been spared.

Therefore, Zelgadis was confused to sense the dark aura of a powerful mazoku in the crowded common room of a tavern one evening. Even so, his response was automatic. Foam flew from his mug of beer as he slammed it on the table, and his mouth opened to speak the Word of Subjugation at the same time that his hand flew to his sword hilt, ready to fend off an attack of the ordinary kinds of demons who often plagued these isolated villages.

Neither Xelloss nor the monster he was expecting appeared, however. Mouth hanging open on an unspoken spell, he looked up in surprise at the woman who had entered the room. She was dressed in common traveler's clothes, but she moved through the crowd like an elegant queen, with her head held high and her gaze steady and clear. Her manner seemed to be that of a woman who was accustomed to be attended by a lowly flock of servants, rather than the solitary mercenary or merchant she appeared to be. But then, she also appeared to be human. The people she passed barely glanced at her with mild curiosity, while Zelgadis' senses screamed with alarm at the demonic aura that surrounded her.

The hood of her cloak fell back as she came across the room, revealing bright blond hair and a fair face that stood out among the mangy brown locks and weathered faces of the local people. She ignored them all, and headed straight for Zelgadis' table.

"You are Zelgadis," she said, in a crisp, low voice, with the tone of one who was used to being obeyed without question. Zelgadis thought he would hardly dare be anyone else after being addressed like that.

He stared at her with his mouth open, baffled, ready to cast a spell but with no idea which one to cast. Not Xelloss, and not an attack by a random demon on the nearly helpless human village, then, but a mazoku who knew his name. His mind raced through various past encounters with the demon race, wondering whether this was something to do with Lina Inverse, or with Rezo?

The woman casually pulled out a chair and sat down at his table. She smiled at him, a shockingly familiar smile - Xelloss' smile. Suddenly Zelgadis knew exactly who she was. He thought his heart would stop. Sitting across the table from him was none other than The Greater Beast, Zelas Metallium, Xelloss' mistress and creator, and one of the highest ranking Mazoku Lords still alive.

Zelgadis closed his mouth, swallowed hard, and dropped his hand from his sword. Even the strongest spell he could cast would probably not be much use against her.

"I've looked forward to meeting you for some time," she said. She tipped her head and regarded him with bright eyes. Her smile widened. "You know who I am, don't you, Zelgadis-san?" she added pleasantly.

He nodded. The noise and bustle in the common room faded away, as if the two of them sat alone in their own pocket universe. There could only be one reason the Greater Beast had sought him out in person. Of all of the threats and battles Zelgadis had lived through, he knew he'd probably never been in as much danger as he was at this moment. She could snuff out his life with hardly more than a thought. But if she did...

Suddenly he found his voice again.

"If you kill me..." he began quickly.

"Yes, I know," Zelas interrupted with a quick, dismissive wave of her hand. "If you die, Xelloss' physical form will be damaged, his spirit broken, and he'll be of no more use to me. I'm quite aware of that."

She snapped the last words at him, and her eyes flashed as she spoke. Zelgadis shrank back in his chair, but still, she didn't seem ready to attack.

"Then - what do you want?" he asked. He tried to sound firm, even challenging. He hoped she couldn't see how shocked he was that she seemed to think that part of the spell would actually work. "If you're going to ask me to break the spell on Xelloss, I...I can't."

"Really?" she said, her tone slightly mocking.

"Yes... " he said, and stammered to an embarrassed halt. "I - The truth is, I don't know how. I don't even know if it's possible," he muttered, blushing as he finally admitted it to himself as well as to her.

It had been at the back of his mind all along, ever since he realized he'd actually bound himself to Xelloss more deeply than he ever consciously intended. He had somehow woven the spell into Xelloss' astral being in a way he hardly understood himself. Now, he had a feeling that merely removing the enchanted rosary would not be enough to break the spell, and might have unexpected consequences for both of them.

"It is possible," she said, matter of factly. "In fact, I imagine you will wish to end the spell of your own accord, eventually - when you finally come to understand what it is that you've done. However, Zelgadis-san, I only wish you to know this: if you should ever force Xelloss to go directly against my will, it will break his spirit just as completely as your death would. Do you understand?"

"I - think so," Zelgadis said. He wasn't sure he did, really; he would have to think about that more later, assuming he got out of this encounter with his own mind and body intact.

"Do you?" she asked, looking at him sharply. "Do you understand that you have the means to destroy Xelloss completely, if you choose to?"

"De- destroy...?" he stammered. He stared at her; she was no longer smiling. She had looked completely human until now, but for the first time he could see the demonic gleam in her eyes.

Even though he'd linked Xelloss' life to his, he had never thought of it in those terms. The idea of Xelloss being destroyed - of losing him - felt like a mono-bolt hitting him in the chest.

Zelas raised an eyebrow. Zelgadis quickly tried to hide his horror, but before he could embarrass himself by admitting that he did not want Xelloss harmed, she continued.

"If you did so, I will no longer have any reason to let you live," she said.

Meaning, he realized, that she intended to let him live on unharmed, at least for now, just as long as he didn't interfere directly with any of her plans.

"I ... see," Zelgadis said. He relaxed, slightly. His mind raced, trying to sort out all the meanings of her words, muddled by his own confusing reactions, but one thing seemed clear. "I guess that puts us at something of an impasse, then."

"For the time being, yes. On the other hand," she continued, an incongruously sunny smile lighting up her face, "if you cause me to lose the use of my Priest, I will have no reason to make your death either quick or pleasant, will I?"

Zelgadis stared back at her. The power she contained beat on his inhuman senses, reminding him that he faced one of the most powerful and dangerous beings in the world.

Zelas said nothing else; clearly, she felt that her point had been made. She stood up, and with a last smiling glance down at him, she turned and walked away.

Zelgadis sat unmoving, staring after her, while the noises, sights and smells of the tavern flowed over his ordinary senses again. After a while, he numbly reached for his mug and drained it in one long gulp. Then he nearly toppled out of his chair, suddenly flooded with a sense of relief that he was still alive.

Only later, when he was lying awake in the dark in his squalid room at the back of the tavern, did he realize that Zelas hadn't told him _how_ the spell could be broken - if she actually knew a way. Beyond that, he also remembered there were curses a Mazoku could use on a human that were far worse than death, spells that would prolong his life in helpless, speechless agony forever. Casting one of those on him would effectively free Xelloss, and no doubt provide both of them with a wealth of pleasure in his suffering as well. What else did Zelas Metallium know that prevented her from using one of those curses on him now? He could not imagine. Maybe she only thought he wasn't worth the effort.

Slowly, as he relived the conversation over and over again in his mind, he realized that she had not even warned him away from using the Word of Subjugation on Xelloss again. She didn't give any indication that she intended to keep Xelloss away from him, either - assuming the mazoku priest ever chose to come near him again, anyway, but, if he didn't intend to, why would Zelas take the trouble to come to him with such a warning? It didn't seem to make sense at all, but Zelgadis supposed he shouldn't be surprised at that. Why should he expect Xelloss' creator to be any more straightforward than the trickster priest himself?

He tried to forget the way his heart had lurched when she'd said he could destroy Xelloss if he wanted to.

In fact, he tried to shove all thoughts of mazoku aside, and slowly fought his way toward sleep, but Zelas' smile, so much like her priest's, kept returning to his mind. Near dawn, he finally succeeded in drifting off. The last word he muttered before sleep overtook him was not his mantra, the Word of Subjugation, but only Xelloss' name.

(to be continued)


	7. Provocation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Word of Subjugation,** chapter 7: Provocation

**Word of Subjugation,** chapter 7: Provocation

_by Tsutsuji_

Fandom: Slayers

Pairing: Xelloss x Zelgadis

Rating: Mature. yaoi, mind-control, non-con, some violence. not beta'd.

Date Written: 4/29ish/09

Disclaimer: In case I haven't mentioned it lately, tsutsuji does not own Slayers or any of these characters, and does not make any money from writing this.

Word count, chapter 7: around 2644

AN: _Thanks so much_ for all the encouraging comments on the last chapter; I'm very, very glad that Zelas made such a good impression!

Summary: Xelloss tries a different approach to convince Zelgadis to remove the spell, but it seems like the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Chapter 7: Provocation

The next morning, Zelgadis was approached by the local village council and offered the job of ridding a nearby forest of a nest of demonspawn that had plagued the local hunters and woodcutters for years. What should have been a simple enough task became entangled with an ancient, secret family curse and a veritable snake's den of local politics, and then further complicated by the fact that the people who hired him didn't expect him to survive long enough to collect the payment they promised. In the spirit of Lina Inverse, Zelgadis convinced the townspeople to honor their part of the bargain after all.

It was a perfect distraction from thinking about Xelloss, and by the time the task was finished more than a week later, Zelgadis was both richer and more worn out from spellcasting than he'd been since his travels with Lina. He found an inn at a village on the other side of the forest, one where the food was good and the rooms were clean, and where the color of a traveler's gold mattered more than his appearance. With the assistance of several bottles of fine wine, he was well fed and sound asleep as soon as it was dark.

He woke up suddenly with a heavy weight on his chest and a gloved hand clamped tight over his mouth. It was nearly enough to stop his breath, but not quite. He tensed, twitched, and instinctively tried to pull the hand away from his face, but he knew at once there was no point in struggling against that grip.

Deep purple eyes glittered in the dark, hovering above him; he could see little else of Xelloss' face in the moonlight that filtered in through the curtained window of his room, only the flash of the mazoku's smile as he leaned closer. The midnight silence of the inn was broken by a venomous whisper.

"Wake up, Zelgadis-san," Xelloss said in a taunting voice. "I want to watch your face while I take you..."

They were his own words from when he'd first cast the spell, hissed back at him while Xelloss clawed the blanket and pajamas off of him with one hand, keeping the other firmly clamped to his mouth. Zelgadis had no chance to speak, barely any chance to think, before Xelloss descended onto him with his body, his mouth and his one free hand.

It was too sudden. The Word of Subjugation screamed inside Zelgadis' mind, but the sharp moan that formed in his throat was hardly even recognizable as Xelloss' name. The sound that came out, muffled by Xelloss' hand, only made the mazoku chuckle briefly. He turned Zelgadis' head to the side, and leaned down to lick his ear and whisper.

"Not because I _want_ you, you understand, Zelgadis-san," he said, his voice as soft as a shadow. "Only because I _can_."

Xelloss barely waited for those words to sink in before he bent down and took Zelgadis' hesitant erection in his mouth.

Zelgadis shuddered and tried not to respond, but it wasn't possible. The memory of his power over Xelloss, the heady feeling of having the mazoku under his control, all quickly melted away into desperate submission. He squirmed under Xelloss, clawed at the hand covering his mouth, pulled at Xelloss' shirt, his arm, his hair, but he could not push the mazoku away. The truth was, he didn't even want to.

Xelloss' free hand roamed over him, prodding and pinching at all the sensitive places on Zelgadis' stone-covered body, secret and sometimes surprising points of arousal that he'd discovered during the course of his seduction. Meanwhile, his mouth quickly worked Zelgadis to a painfully intense arousal - and then left him there while he flipped him over onto hands and knees, somehow keeping Zelgadis' mouth sealed under his hand in the process. With that same hand he pulled Zelgadis' head back, and circled his throat with the other hand in a mockery of a caress.

"You will see, Zelgadis-san," he said in a soft voice that seemed to crawl down Zelgadis' spine, "I will convince you to release me from this spell, one way or another!"

Then he simply yanked Zelgadis into position and entered him, swift and hard.

Zelgadis screamed, but as rough and sudden as it was, this time Xelloss hardly hurt him at all. He merely taunted with murmured words, seductive and mocking, and tortured Zelgadis with the burning pleasure of his touch, of fingers, lips and tongue, and the relentless stimulation deep inside. Through it all, he never lost his grip on Zelgadis' mouth.

Zelgadis was glad enough that he didn't, because long before Xelloss was done, he knew that if he'd been able to speak it would only have been to moan Xelloss' name and beg for more - and to beg for a release that Xelloss never allowed before he suddenly vanished like smoke.

After he was gone, Zelgadis lay in the twisted sheets, panting for breath in an agony of arousal. His lips burned from the pressure of Xelloss' hand and twitched as he tried, belatedly, to say the words of the spell out loud.

"Xelloss..." he hissed, pressing his face into the sheets. "Sss... su...bmuh..." he panted. "Xelloss..sss... damn you!" he sobbed at last, and reached down to finish what Xelloss had started, his face burning with shame and his mind filled with the mazoku's grin and violet, gleaming eyes.

He lay awake through the night afterward. His body still hummed with the memory of desire suddenly reawakened, like the power of a spell left uncast. Even though he couldn't sleep, he wasn't afraid anymore. He knew now that it hardly mattered what he did, whether he was awake or dreaming; he held the power of the spell over Xelloss, but he was just as weak to resist the mazoku's touch as ever.

As light slowly grew brighter outside the window and seeped into the room, he remembered his encounter with Xelloss' mistress; the adventure with the demon-infested forest had driven it from his mind. He wondered if Xelloss even knew that she'd spoken to him. Whether she had or not, if she really did know of a way to break the spell, it seemed to him that she had not told Xelloss about it, either.

He had to assume that Xelloss could decide to use some horrendous Mazoku curse on him as well, but whether it was beneath his dignity to do so, or whether he was afraid that the effects of such a curse would render Zelgadis incapable of removing the spell, evidently he had chosen this erotic torture instead as a way to try to convince Zelgadis to break the spell.

Zelgadis groaned when he thought of endless nights played out like this - assuming Xelloss didn't decide to vary his methods from time to time, by, say, ripping off a limb or doing something even more creative. He thought he knew what Xelloss was capable of, but he realized he still did not know what to expect from the trickster priest, even after all this time.

Maybe this was what Zelas meant when she said he would soon want to break the spell, he thought. But he couldn't; he didn't know how, and the truth was, even if he knew of a way to do it safely (for both of them), he still wasn't sure he would. He could no longer pretend that keeping Xelloss away was any part of his plan.

It was only a few nights before Xelloss came to him again. This time, somehow, Zelgadis slipped from his grasp as soon as he felt it, and screamed the Word out loud before he was even awake enough to be sure that he wasn't only dreaming.

Xelloss went stiff as he was, crouched above him on the bed, and then slowly fell onto him with his head bowed low. His hand fell away from Zelgadis' face to his chest, half clawing at him and half caress. Zelgadis placed his own hand on Xelloss' head, threaded his fingers through the fine silk of his hair, and felt the mazoku shudder at the gentle, possessive touch.

"This time..." Zelgadis whispered, and slowly smiled. "My turn."

"_This_... time... " Xelloss hissed, forcing the words out past the binding force of the spell.

Zelgadis shivered with a thrill of mingled horror and arousal. This time he had won, and held the upper hand, for now - if he could hold it until the end. The next time, it might go either way. For now, Xelloss was _his_.

He gave in, at last, to the seduction of power and to his insane desire for Xelloss. He would take his time, this time, and relish every moment of Xelloss' submission. While it lasted. Until the next time...

He laid Xelloss out beneath him on the bed, naked except for the enchanted strand of beads, and slowly, carefully, he brought that all-too-perfect body to a fine peak of arousal. With undeniable pleasure he watched as the glare of fury in Xelloss' eyes slowly gave way to angry pleading. Only his eyes showed his resistance, though; his body moved in perfect response to Zelgadis' touch, to his slightest command, almost, it seemed, to his thought.

Commanding Xelloss to wait for his permission for his own release, Zelgadis took him that way. He muffled Xelloss' moans with his own mouth, hissing Xelloss' name and the word of power as he came.

Then he sat back, caught his breath, and ordered Xelloss to come to him. Shuddering and biting back a groan of frustration, Xelloss climbed across the bed on hands and knees. Still breathing heavily as sated desire quickly turned back to anticipation, Zelgadis ran his thumb across Xelloss' lips, caressed his face and his hair - relishing every intimate touch that he had never been allowed before.

Then he pulled Xelloss' head into his lap with an order to make him hard again. That was a risky move, a gamble; he knew how quickly and thoroughly Xelloss could make him lose all thought and sense with his skillful mouth. Somehow, he held on, just enough to notice when Xelloss twitched and the rhythm of his movement changed as his power started to return.

"Xellossss..sssubmit," he breathed, and although he hardly recognized the sound of his own voice then, the spell took hold again.

A whimper of frustration escaped from Xelloss before he could quell it. Zelgadis swallowed hard, his breath catching in his throat.

A moment later he pushed Xelloss away, shuddering as the wonderful suction of the mazoku's mouth left him. He was painfully hard, and almost beyond thought - and thankful for that. He didn't need to think about this now. He was also almost beyond speech, and directed Xelloss mostly with touches and gestures to turn around and position himself on hands and knees in front of him, saving his breath to repeat the words of the spell when they were needed.

Zelgadis realized he'd never seen Xelloss this way. With his head down, eyes clenched shut, fists twisting the sheets beneath him, his smooth back arched and his legs spread - and his arousal evident for Zelgadis to see, because he'd insisted on it - Xelloss was an even more perfect vision of submission than he'd ever expected to see. Zelgadis stared at him for a moment, drinking in the sight. Xelloss shivered, as if he could feel the triumphant gaze on his naked skin.

Zelgadis could not hold back any longer. He was just as helpless to resist Xelloss as ever. He might have control over the mazoku for the moment, but he only had the illusion of control over himself.

"Remember, Xelloss," he said as he leaned forward over the mazoku's back and slowly entered him, "remember that you taught me all of this... "

Strangled sounds rose from Xelloss' throat, protesting even as the strands of the spell forced him to plead for more. Zelgadis wrapped his arms around the mazoku's body from behind, brushed his face against the strands of hair at the back of Xelloss' neck, and then spoke into his ear.

"Submit to me, Xelloss... but you can make all the noise you want."

That was almost a mistake. Xelloss' cries, desperate and pleading and, eventually, Zelgadis thought, sobbing with relief, were even more intensely arousing than the tight, twisting heat of his body. He barely held on to conscious thought long enough to command Xelloss to come when he felt himself at the very edge, and as he plunged over, he wasn't sure if he really heard Xelloss panting his name frantically or if it was only in his mind.

It was almost too much effort to stay alert afterward. He managed to do it, though, just so that he could pull Xelloss back with him as he rolled onto his side and whispered "Xelloss, submit" for what he intended to be the last time that night. A few minutes longer...

He felt Xelloss stiffen in a futile moment of resistance before settling into his arms. Zelgadis pressed his face against the fine, dark hair that spread across his shoulder, and caressed the smooth skin of the trickster's human form with his rough hands. All little gestures that he had longed to do, that Xelloss had never allowed him the opportunity to indulge in before. This time, he would take the chance. Next time...

His fingers roamed over Xelloss' chest and throat, and touched the beads of the rosary around his neck.

"Zelgadis... san," Xelloss said, his voice soft and strangely calm. "Release me. Please."

It was not quite either a plea or a command. Zelgadis leaned over to look down at Xelloss' face. His eyes were half opened, but he did not look up to meet Zelgadis' gaze.

"From the spell, no," Zelgadis said.

He barely saw Xelloss wince and his lips tighten in frustration - which would probably have been a grimace of rage if the spell was not still in force. That rage would certainly rebound upon him the next time he saw Xelloss - a risk he was, apparently, willing to face, for the chance to have Xelloss like this. This time.

He was not about to admit it, though, and he thought it best not to reveal that, even if he wanted to release Xelloss, he didn't know how.

"Considering what you would do to me as soon as you're free? I'm not such a fool as that," Zelgadis said.

He saw Xelloss' brow crease a little, and this time the corner of his lip twitched upward in a hint of a smile, acknowledging that yes, indeed, Zelgadis would be a fool to free him now and risk the consequences. He was subdued, but not damaged; the gleam was back in those inhuman eyes.

"But for tonight," Zelgadis continued, "you are free to leave." He moved back, leaving Xelloss lying alone on the tangled sheets. "Go."

Xelloss was gone almost before he'd got the word out of his mouth.

"Next time," Zelgadis murmured, as he let exertion of sex and of maintaining the spell drag his eyes closed. "Next time, Xelloss..."

(to be continued)

_(long chapter is long; too much sex going on, maybe? heh. Comments _   
_reeeally appreciated. Two, maybe three more chapters to go, soon I hope!)_


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